Barcelona bottoms break record

Tunick took three pictures of the crowd

Naked bottoms have been raised in the air in the city of Barcelona, Spain, for the world's largest ever nude photo shoot.

American photographer Spencer Tunick persuaded 7,000 people to take their clothes off in an avenue in the city centre on Sunday, before photographing them from the top of a crane.

He later described the shoot as the "greatest" he had ever done.

Tunick has been arrested several times in the USA for offences including lewd conduct and blocking traffic, and usually takes his major projects abroad.

Authorities in Barcelona are said to have welcomed the event.

He has held similar mass events in such cities as Sao Paulo, Montreal and Melbourne, Australia, where he set his previous record of 4,500 bodies.

Most of the participants were male

Queues of volunteers began appearing for the shoot in the early hours of the morning.

Organisers said that while 7,000 people posed, twice that number initially signed up to the project.

Tunick took three pictures of the crowd - one of them lying on their backs, another kneeling with their bottoms in the air and a third of couples embracing.

Most of the participants were men, but there were also said to be some families, babies, disabled people and people with limbs in plaster.